Box shots

This is some footage of us testing whether my phone would be the best fit for filming inside the box, as because we did not have access to the go pro as we originally planned. We eventually decided to use the nikon camera as it was better quality and as it didn't crop out most of mine and Alisha's faces as this footage does.

Band Name

We did a small survey in our class to pick the name of our band and 'Roads to Rome' won with overwhelming majority and is similar to other indie bands such as 'Arrows to Athens'. 

shooting schedule

Friday 8th December	All bike shots, school shots and bench shots	Phoebe Alisha Morgan Sophie
Saturday 9th Decemeber	Town shots, park and box	Phoebe Alisha Morgan Sophie Kelsey
Sunday 10th December	Park and box (all unfinished)	Phoebe Alisha Morgan Sophie Kelsey

Filming

We filmed yesterday the 9th December and Friday the eighth. Unfortunately we could not film today as it snowed unexpectedly, and we would lose continuity.


 

In the video we discussed potential ideas that we had that we were thinking of exploring, but due to the difficulty of filming these shots we decided not to have the spade or compass come out of the paper and instead have the comical element of them being able to find their wy using only a drawn compass

making the map

To have a map in the old 'faded' style we wanted, we stained the map with tea, and once it had dried we drew the symbols on. we then burnt the edges to give it the effect we wantd.

change from pitch

After discussion and storyboarding we realised that our idea had now changed dramatically from our original pitch. We decided to re-pitch our new idea to the class. After this pitch we decided to film both our new idea and a toned down version of it and do an audience survey during editing to see which is preferred.

 

Storyboarding

We finished storyboarding and this is our final version:

moodboard

This is a moodboard using ideas that we have for our music video

Audience Feedback

The questions we asked were ideas for location, and which angle people thought would be best for the video.
The ideas we got during the pitch were all in response to the second question. Everyone said that daytime was the best time to film and that having feminism, youth and ethnicity was too many angles. They suggested having youth as our main angle and just having feminism and ethnicity as an angle due to the actors we cast. People also liked the idea of bikes more than trains, as they expressed concerns about getting permission to film other passengers an to film on the train at all.



 

Some other questions that were asked were:

Q: How is the video feminist?

A: We thought the video was feminist as it promoted freedom and camraderie between young women. This is still an angle in our video, but just in the background, due to our casting of only teenage girls as the main cast.

Q: Are you following the lyrics at all? Is there any lipsyncing?

A: We don't follow the lyrics, although they were the inspiration or the theme of ethnicity and have impacted the tone of our piece.

Q: How many locations would you use?

A: more than five and less than ten, although we don't have an exact number

Q: How would you film cycling?

A: Alisha owns a GoPro which we would film the POV shots on the bike, and the other shots would be stationary shots.

Q: You could film on the ridgeway or in museums?

A: Due to copyright and permission reasons we can't film in museums, however we are now filming on the ridgeway

Lyrics

Coming up slowly, oh, sun over the hill

Daylight's still a long time coming

But I know it will

Been under this spell, oh, but we're coming awake

So we'll be rude, we'll be loud

As long as it takes

This is why, this is why,

We crank the dial to the right

This is why we're biting the bullet

We know the kids are right

Sing

Different colors

We carry each other

We're just different colors

This is why we're biting the bullet

We know the kids are right

We keep cranking the music up

Driving through our towns

But they don't wanna hear

They want us to turn it down

So come on lovers, come on haters

Tonight we raise the fire

Cause when the people get to dancing

They forget about taking sides

This is why, this is why,

We crank the dial to the right

This is why we're biting the bullet

We know the kids are right

Sing

Different colors

We carry each other

We're just different colors

This is why we're biting the bullet

We know the kids are right

(For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction)

(Opposite, opposite reaction)

We're coming awake, out of your spell,

As long as it takes, we're coming awake

We're coming awake, out of your spell,

As long as it takes, we're coming awake

This is why, this is why,

We crank the dial to the right

This is why we're biting the bullet

We know the kids are right

I said, this is why, this is why

We're tearing it up all night

Oh this is why we're biting the bullet

We know the kids are right

Different colors

We carry each other

We're just different colors

This is why we're biting the bullet

We know the kids are right

Different colors

We carry each other

(Oh yeah)

We're just different colors

This is why we're biting the bullet

We know the kids are right

Actors

We are trying to have a diverse cast so therefore our cast so far is me and Alisha.

Alisha is Indian and I am Caucasian. We possibly have two other actors, one who is black and one who is Caucasian. 

Pitch

This was our pitch to our class.

Song Choice

We've chosen this song for our video as it fits the lighthearted friendship vibe we were looking for and has a good beat we can edit to.

New Group and Plan

Now that our group has changed, I am working with Sophie, Morgan and Alisha. As our ideas were wildly different we decided to start over.

We have an outline for our video where friends in school find a map and the go looking to the 'x' at the end, and the video is them following the map and messing around, and at the end they find a box and the last shot is from inside the box and you see their awed faces, but you never see what's inside.

However we haven't finalised a sing, but some song ideas we had were:
Hungry like the wolf
Devil you know by X Ambassadors
Regegades by X Ambassadors
King for a day by Kasabian
Weekend by the Mispers

I personally like king for  a day and weekend, as I feel they have the upbeat, high energy vibe we want, however not everyone in our group agrees, so we need to finalise our choice.

Plan

Here's a cleaner, more detailed, typed version of one of the sheets from my 'Planning' post:

Receiving the letter

I hear the sound - close up of walking feet glitching to flashback
Echoes beneath
Angels and skylines meet - spinning shot of the canopy of trees, glitching to flashback
And I'm straining to reach  - walking with lantern, with glitch
The light on the surface
Light on the other side

I feel the pages turning - Burning the letter and lip-syncing 
I see the candle burning down
Before my eyes
Before my wild eyes - look at camera

I feel you holding me - meeting and struggling, glitching back to before *
Tighter I cannot see
When will we finally

Breathe x 7 -flashbacks and lead through forest - lots of flashback narrative here

I feel the pages turning - jerk to a stop
I see the candle burning down -time lapse of the fallen lantern burning down
Before my eyes -focus on her looking down
Before my wild eyes - eyes up to camera

I feel you holding me - hands on shoulders and glitch to past hug
Tighter I cannot see - he pushes her to her knees
When will we finally - puts dagger to her throat, she closes her eyes and takes a breath

Breathe x 7 - flashbacks - end o black and white of present *

Instrumental - fighting

Breathe x 7 - still fighting and at the last 'breathe' she is over him and inhales and lifts up the dagger then it cuts

Lyrics to Breathe

I hear the sound
Echoes beneath
Angels and skylines meet
And I'm straining to reach
The light on the surface
Light on the other side

I feel the pages turning
I see the candle burning down
Before my eyes
Before my wild eyes

I feel you holding me
Tighter I cannot see
When will we finally

Breathe x 7

I feel the pages turning
I see the candle burning down
Before my eyes
Before my wild eyes

I feel you holding me
Tighter I cannot see
When will we finally

Breathe x 7

Instrumental

Breathe x 7

Planning

Here's some of our planning for the ideas for our 'Breathe' video

Breathe Moodboard

Original Photos for Moodboard

Breathe - Fleurie

The song we have decided to do is 'Breathe' by Fleurie. The idea we  have for this is a narrative video.It starts before the song with a woman, in clothing of ambiguous time period, recieving a letter. The song then starts and we see her walking through a forest with a lantern, with glitches to flashbacks of when she has done this before. During the first chorus we see her burning the letter on candle and lipsyncing. We then see her meet a man in the woods, who we see through flashbacks she was romantic with, who then tries to kill her with a dagger. She fights him and overpowers him and gins the dagger and the video ends ambiguously, the audience unsure whether she kills him or not.

The atmosphere of the video is inspired by 'Safe and Sound' by Taylor Swift, which although is not exactly the same genre ('Breathe is Alternative Indie folk and 'Safe and Sound' is Folk alternative country) is a very similar genre and shares many of the same conventions.

Youth - Daughter

Another song we considered was Youth. The narrative we considered was a non-linear one, where we see a group of carefree friends , interspersed with two of them in a relationship and also interspersed with the girl in the relationship breaking down. The audience then find out when the song says 'one will die before he gets there' that the boyfriend has died. We then see the friends comforting the girlfriend, still interspersed with the friends when they were carefree. We ultimately decided that this idea was not original enough and that there was still not enough room for exploration in this song or idea.

Runaway - Ed Sheeran

We looked at Runaway as an song we could use for our music video. Our idea was to follow the existing narrative of the song and have the main character meet up with someone else in the woods, while avoiding their father. We were going to have lots of dim lighting and shadows, and ultimately only show the shadow or individual body parts of the father. We ultimately decided this was a weak idea, as we were constrained by the strong narrative of the song and felt that a song with less of a clear narrative would be better.

Song Ideas

Here's a mindmap of our song idea, which I will detail individually in seperate posts

Promotional Material - Gabrielle Aplin

Indie advertisement seems to have a large focus on the artist and their image. Gabrielle Aplin is an Indie rock/Indie folk singer and all her promotional material seems to focus on her as an artist.

Please Don't Go - Joel Adams

• focus on artist
• slightly fantasy - lights
• forest
• focus on the back of the artist
• mix of lip-syncing and performance and narrative
• looking into the camera at parts

Let it Go - James Bay

• focus on artist
• moving camera
• mix of lip-syncing and not
• long continuous shots
• isolation

Pompeii - Bastille

• Focus on artist
• mix of lip-syncing and narrative
• shaky camerawork
• abandoned city, then nature - isolation
• multiple shots of the back of the artist

Audience feedback

Transcript:

Very good shots and looks very similar to the real thing :)

www. Amazing shots! It was really effective. a really creative alernative use of the coloured paper rather than the flag.
Q. If you had more time, would you have found another alternative to the tears?

www: Edited the abuse scenes in time with the actual video. I like the low angle shot of River in the forest.
Question: Why didn't you pick a son with lip syncing

Loved the pace of shots, edited together so well.
Would you use a similar style/ genre for your real music video?


In answer to the first question, we did consider ways to make the tears. We first considered actual wax and ad we had the time yes this is what most likely what we would have gone with. As it was we tried using icing, however although they looked accurate they did not stay on so we had to abandon them.

in answer to the second, I am looking at indie for my genre, though I am not sure of a song yet, and I really like the shots at the beginning in the woods, so it is a possibility.

Differences

While filming the prelim, I found many differences between the film openings and the music video. Firstly the style is more abstract and with more establishing shots, even if it is a narrative video. Secondly, there are s lot more cut shots in the music video and it is faster paced. It is as harder to edit as you have to edit to the beat.

Prelim

Here's our finished prelim!

Prelim Filming 2

The second half of filming at Mine and Sophie's house, with the father and son arguing.

Unsteady - x ambassadors

As an example of a narrative video I chose Unsteady by the X Ambassadors, as I thought it showed an unusual narrative. Told half through flashbacks, the story is of a failing relationship, with an presumably alcoholic father and flashbacks showing the beginnings of the relationship, when things like adding alcohol to coffee was illicit, rather than a warning sign. These parallels have interesting cut shots with whispering in the ear turning from sensual to angry and the pouring alcohol, facing from the past to the present.  The video ends on a cliff hanger and the audience is unsure of what is going to the couple.

Flipped

When editing we realised that we had filmed at the wrong angle, so we decided to flip the shots, which, after a quick google search, we found out how to do in video effects.

Prelim Filming

We decided to film at Forty Hall, as we knew it had the type of fallen log we needed for the video

Cast

we needed two people for the prelim: one person to play the son and one person to play the father. River is going to play the son and I am going to play the father.

Props and Location

For the first location we decided to film in Forty Hall as we knew that there was along that looked similar to the one in the shot. We attempted to make the wax tears that were used in this location, but we ultimately failed.




This second location can be filmed anywhere, as all that is in shot is the sheet that will be painted.







For this shot we decided to film in River's kitchen as there were similar tiles there. We also bought some glasses, so we could refill if we need to.

The final location is a living room, which we decided to film in mine and Sophie's house, as there was enough space to do this.

Prelim filming schedule

We filmed the shots in the woods on 23rd June and we filmed the shots of the fighting on the 2nd July. We plan to film the flag next week, as it will not take long.

Prelim

For our prelim we (River, Sophie and I)  decided to recreate the opening of 'Boys Will Be Boys' by Benny, as we really liked the opening in the woods and felt that the next part, of the father and son arguing, would show our knowledge of editing to the beat.

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin’s Theory	Blue neighbourhood – Troye Sivan	Cherry wine - Hozier	What makes you beautiful – one direction	Galway girl – Ed sheeran	Wake me up - Avicii
Genre characteristics: style and iconography  (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band)		Narrative video is typical of the genre and the soft lighting	Focus on boyband moving camera cut shots
Relationship between lyrics and visuals with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics	The lyrics do compliment the visuals, wild the start of a relationship, fools the breakdown and talk me down the aftermath	The narrative is about the lyrics	Emphasis on band	Visuals of what they are doing in the song	The idea of ‘finding myself’ is present in the lyrics and the narrative of the video
A relationship between the music and visuals, eg editing to the beat	The videos have lots of intercutting clips, which change on the beat		Tapping at the beginning in time with beat	Fast forward in time with music	The dancing at the end is in time with the music
Multiple close up shots of the artists to create visual style, a ‘star image’ to sell the artist	Multiple close up of troye sivan singing,	Artist isn’t in the video	Most of the focus on the band	Artist not in it, but his POV	They go to an avicii concert at the end and there are multiple close ups of their logo
A frequent reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mobile phones, billboards and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body)		Looking at herself in the mirror, however not voyeuristically, but as a victim		The entire video is portrayed as being filmed on a phone, so the idea of looking is there	Close up on faces of people looking at them
Inter-textual references to other media texts may be present, (eg films, TV programmes, other music videos etc). Often used in humorous or parody videos	Intertextual references to injustices in the real world and the impacts of homophobic parents on children	Again real world injustices

Galway Girl

Ed Sheeran's 'Galway Girl' is a narrative video, which uses POV shot,which immerses the viewer in the video, as if they are the person behind the camera. It also gives the video a sense of realism, which s also present in the song as he says "I swear I'm gonna put you in a song that I write about a Galway girl and a perfect night"

What Makes You Beautiful

One direction's 'What makes you beautiful' focuses on the performers, as much of there music is liked due to the band's fame and popularity so they are the focus of the video in the hopes of drawing people in.